Burnley boss Howe pleased to win before fans

It had been a long two weeks after the 3-1 loss at home to Brighton dropped Burnley into the bottom three after four games.

And Howe admitted it was a weight off his mind, saying: “I don’t think there’s any denying that after three defeats you’re desperate for a win.

“To do it in such a good manner as well really pleases us and in front of our fans.

“Hopefully it gives them a boost to know that we can be a decent side.”

Burnley went in front through Chris McCann, but, against the run of play, Posh recovered to lead midway through the first half.

But a hat-trick from Charlie Austin, and a late strike from Junior Stanislas sealed a comprehensive win, and Howe said: “I was really pleased with the character of the players after being 1-0 up and absolutely dominant at that stage and creating chance after chance and you think ‘come on, let’s get the second goal’.

“Two minutes later we’re two one down.

“It was a crazy game, it was so open for both teams and there could have been a lot more goals than there were.

“We’ve got things to work on defensively but attacking wise I thought their goalkeeper made some great saves, we hit the crossbar and could have scored more. That really pleases me.”

It made for a tense atmosphere at 2-1 down, but the crowd stuck with the team, and he added: “You sensed the crowd were frustrated and naturally when you hear things from behind you in the stands the players can hear the same things. They’re not immune to hearing criticism.

“I think there’s that edginess.

“The players now need to be mentally strong and try to block anything else out and concentrate on their football.

“I thought they did that really well because it was a big test.

“How do they react to what was two goals when we were well on top? You can feel sorry for yourselves and sulk and say why us?

“Why are we conceding goals
when actually defensively we don’t look too bad?

“But they rolled their sleeves up and got on with it and in the end they got their rewards.

“When you’ve lost three games on the spin and you’re 2-1 down to a team that hasn’t got a point I don’t think there’s going to be a great atmosphere, but they did their bit for us and hopefully we repaid them as well.”

Howe was disappointed with the goals conceded, however, saying: “We can’t get away from the defensive lapses – not just defenders, I’m talking about everybody.

“Midfielders let runners go at times and from goal kicks they caused us a big problem aerially and we didn’t really deal with that.

“But I’ve got to take the positives out of today really. Although we will go away and work on things some of our attacking play and our two strikers looked really good.”

There was some debate over whether Austin’s first goal should be credited to him, or an own goal for Michael Bostwick, but Howe said: “I’ve already signed the matchball so I assume he’s staked his claim.

“I don’t think he will think the second goal was trickling wide.

“I think we’ve got to try to give Charlie his hat-trick, he deserves it.

“He’s a player who continues to be in the right place at the right time and I’m really pleased he’s helped us to get an important win.”

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